Clash of Killer Robots? Japan Times

Development of robots, artificial intelligence and autonomous machines outpaces regulations and leads to human rights concerns. “Although no ‘fully autonomous’ weapon exists at this stage, several countries, such as the United States, Russia, China, South Korea, and Israel, are thought to have developed ‘semi-autonomous’ weapons equipped with artificial intelligence,” explains Daisuke Akimoto for the Diplomat. Discussions on lethal autonomous weapons systems, or LAWS, are underway in the United Nations, though the world’s leading military powers – the United States, Russia and China – balki on regulations. Japan leads on robot and artificial intelligence technologies and calls for regulation with human controls. Akimoto concludes, “At the same time however, the Japanese government has been cautious about creating a legally binding treaty to ban LAWS due to its national interests in the dual use nature of AI technology as well as the strategic importance of AI-equipped defense capabilities as “semi-autonomous” defense systems.” Of course, regulations require compliance and enforcement, and those are other challenges. – YaleGlobal